The next goal is to create meaningful moments for the Miami Heat, meaningful playoff moments, after his first season with the team produced only a lottery finish. But for Luol Deng, what transpired Saturday in South Africa made the start of the 2015-16 basketball cycle particularly meaningful.

Many Americans assumed the Confederate flag was retired for good after governors in South Carolina and Alabama removed it from their statehouses this summer and presidential candidates from both parties declared it too divisive for official display.

Opinion

While political scientists correctly point out that democracy frequently is a messy endeavor, modern democracy's support structures — such as voter registration databases — should be scrupulously secure and precise.